Cyrano de Bergerac | Australian Arts Review

Presented by Artefact Theatre Company, Melbourne audiences will soon experience Martin Crimp’s radical adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac comes to fortyfivedownstairs this February.

Directed by rising star Matthew Cox, forget feathers, fake noses, and romanticised heroism – this Cyrano is stripped back, sharp-edged, and painfully current. Crimp’s modern-verse adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s masterwork dives beneath the surface of the familiar love triangle into a world where language is performance, masculinity is armour, and beauty is weaponised.

A genius with language but convinced of his own ugliness, Cyrano secretly loves the radiant Roxane – who’s fallen for the beautiful but inarticulate Christian. When Cyrano offers to ghost-write his rival’s seduction, he sets in motion a poignant, hilarious, and ultimately devastating love triangle where performance and authenticity become fatally entangled.

“In the original play, Cyrano’s actions are lionised, held up as a kind of masculine ideal without much consequence. But Crimp’s version is extremely interested in consequence. It doesn’t just show toxic masculinity. It asks where it comes from,” says director Matthew Cox.

First brought to life by the Jamie Lloyd Company in London’s West End, Crimp’s version drew critical acclaim for its rawness, rhythm, and reinvention of a classic. The script ditches period frills in favour of rapid-fire verse and minimalist staging – placing full focus on the emotional brutality of unspoken desire and unacknowledged shame.

Featuring Mark Yeates in the title role, alongside a razor-sharp ensemble of established and emerging Melbourne talent, Cyrano promises to be a highlight of the 2026 independent theatre calendar.

“Cyrano’s been around a long time but Crimp’s version flips it. It’s not romantic or poetic. It’s brutal. You’re not watching a hero anymore, you’re watching a man cause damage and justify it with words,” said Mark Yeates.

Director: Matthew Cox | Featuring: Mark Yeates, Cazz Bainbridge, Annabelle Tudor, Louis Lucente, Callum O’Malley, Bushu Fan Chol, Dion Zapantis, Jasper Mclorinan, Dominic Gruenewald, Samuel Arandez, Harry Harris, Adam Hetherington, Ruby Mountford, Mikaela Cummins, Enya Daly, Jen Bush, Govind Kumar, Eli Carasso | Assistant Director: Rebecca Stephens | Set Designer: Ashley Reid | Costume Designer: Dylan Lumsden | Lighting Designer: Tim Bonser | Sound Designer: Sebastian Herrera | Intimacy Coordinator: Jessica Stanley | Stage Manager: Seamus Allan | Company Manager: Sarah Cuthbert | Co-Producers: Artefact Theatre Co, Matthew Cox, Mark Yeates, Sarah Cuthbert